My God wants me to be thankful

Ephesians 5:20 "Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father"

Since this is Thanksgiving weekend, I thought talking about what characteristic God wants from us would be cool. And that would be thankfulness.

Tonight's church service my pastor also talked about the thankfulness of the heart. The passage that he taught on was Luke 17:11-19 about the 10 lepers that Jesus healed; 10 physically and 1 spiritually. That one leper that came back to thank Jesus for healing him. I'm sure the other 9 were thankful that they were cured from the disease, but this one leper made a huge difference. That really stuck out to me tonight.
So often I will ask God for something; I might be praying for it for 10 months or a year. And when I get what I wanted, I forget to thank God. My pastor said that if we ask God for something, no matter how long we ask for it, our thankfulness back to Him should be everlasting. I don't thank God as much as I ask for things from Him.
There's so many things I could thank Him for in a couple seconds; 1) I have hands that I can use so I can type my blog :), 2) I can wake up in the morning and get out of bed, 3) I have parents who are there for me to say 'good morning' to me. (and 'I love you', my favorite :)) 4) A fridge for Thanksgiving left-overs. I could go on and on.

In everything give thanks!

Bri

Happy Birthday Braden!

HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY BRADEN!!!

Wow! It feels like yesterday dad was visiting you in Viet Nam just before you turned 3, and now you're 11! These 8 years have gone by way to fast!!! But it's been an unforgettable experience watching you grow. One of those 'experiences' was during your very first soccer game. It's a day I'm never going to forget; you scored the first goal with a huge grin on your face. Then the next, and the next .... lol Their team won 11-1. You always go out on field and give your all. I'm so proud of how well you're doing and I'm excited for your season to conclude in the spring so I can see you tear up the fields!

Besides your zeal for food that amazes me, your engineering and tinkering with all sorts of technical stuff is very helpful. When something's broken, all we have to do is tell you and you're working away at it. Last October our miniature Tv was broken because a video tape was stuck inside it by the film. It was really cool seeing you take it apart and putting it back together again. The video tape was out but the tv was ... done. We were still happy for you :)

Braden and I tend to get into 'cat-and-dog' fights the most. I know we get frustrated with each other but that will NEVER change anything. Life would be so boring without you and you're determined personality. I love you so much!!! Thanks for being an amazing, loving, (not to mention cute!! :) ) brother! I'm really thankful for our relationship and I hope it will continue in the future.

Love you Braden James Hien!!!

Bri

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Already I can smell my mom's baked cheesy potatoes Mmmmmmm ...... :)
I'm going to share with you a couple things I'm thankful for .....

Salvation. I'm so thankful that God sent His only Son to pay for all the sin I've committed in my life. He carried the cross for me, took the beatings, and the dying pain. His love was so deep for us. He did it all so we could live forever with Him.


Yes, I'm thankful for sports :) lol I love playing basketball, soccer, basketball, floor-hockey, oh yeah I almost forgot, and basketball. lol


Music is another think I'm very thankful for. Whether it's classical, hymns, praise and worship or Christian contemporary, I love to praise God with music. Psalm 135:3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.


I'm also thankful for my friends. The ones that make me laugh, the ones that are crazy, the ones that love me for who I am, the ones that encourage me, and especially those that stick with me when it's not easy. Proverbs 17:17a A friend loves at all times


Last but not least, I'm thankful for the family God has blessed me with for nearly 16 years. My Dad and all the work he's done to support us, and he's always helping me with my basketball and giving me advice. My Mom has been my school teacher since kindergarten, I don't think any other teacher could love me as she does. She's more then a teacher though, an amazing ping-pong player! lol AND a wonderful mom :) Benjamin, who really knows how to make me laugh/smile. Braden, one of the smartest kids I know; if I ever have a question about engineering, he's the one I can ask. Lydia's singing is always music to my ears. It just makes me want to sing along right with her!

Hope you all have a blessed and memorable Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Bri

The season has started!

It was a dark night as I heard the annoying buzzer sound in the small gym for the players to get ready to start the night. I stood there besides the bench, butterflies going wild in my stomach. As my team, coach and I huddled before the buzzer went off again, I quick said to myself, 'Ok God, this game is in your hands! Please help me to play my best for You!' (Seriously! I was praying almost the entire day, if that shows you how nervous I was.) Me, 4 of my teammates, and 5 of the other opponents went out to the center of the court to begin the game. TWEEEEEET! (lol) went the whistle, and the referee tossed the ball in the air for the tip-off.
haha ... ok, if you haven't caught on, I'm kinda dramatizing my first basketball game that occurred last Thursday (my first game of this season AND I was actually praying a good majority of the day!). It went very interesting and was quite intense during some parts. I had a total of 2 points .... and a total of 4 fouls ...... whoops; that's kinda not good!!! I was 1 short of fouling out of the game! AND my first 2 were literally in the first 90 seconds!!! That also wasn't good!! I had to sit out for the rest of the 1st quarter and half the second. My lesson from that experience is: don't play defense by reaching your hands out for the ball (very bad idea. lol) soooooo .... during halftime my dad said to me 'Use your feet!!!!!' (very good idea, which I already knew but forgot to apply. whoops again:) ) Anyway, to shorten it out, we won 35 to 31!! Yay!!
Hope you all have a blessed week!

Bri

Beautiful Beyond Description

You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words

Too wonderful for comprehension
Like nothing ever seen or heard








Who can grasp your infinite wisdom
Who can fathom the depths of your love

You are beautiful beyond description

Majesty, enthroned above

And I stand, I stand in awe of you

I stand, I stand in awe of you

Holy God to whom all praise is due

I stand in awe of you

Yes I stand in awe of you

I stand in awe of you

Bri

Rake-N-Run

Ok, like I said on Saturday, my youth group had a Rake-N-Run. What is a Rake-N-Run? Well, what our youth group has done for the past couple years is we go to the elderly people in our church and go rake their leaves for them, get back on the church bus, and go to another house!! At one house we were given donuts, so we obviously accepted them. lol We had gorgeous weather and a great turn-out. We hit about 4 houses and were at each for about an hour and a half each; or something like that.

Only one of our many piles of leaves. :)

Obviously we still managed to have fun at the same time. It took us like 5 takes to get this!!!

We would use tarps like this blue one to put the leaf piles on it then take them to a field an dump the leaves there.

Ahh .... leaf blowers; one of the best tools there :-)

Raking ....

Benjamin and Kyle

Ha, what do you know! More raking!! lol This was the last house.

Benjamin :D I think I know his older sister, but I'm not sure ....... lol

There you have it!! Obviously we all couldn't resist at times to jump into the leaves ;) What fun would it be not doing that!? lol

God bless y'all!

Bri

My God is light

John 8:12 "Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.' "

God is the one that lights our paths and life. We would be so lost in worldly darkness if He didn't give us His word to light our ways. The Bible provides illumination to walk without stumbling. Just like it says in Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" He'll continue to lead us to the end.

Also, we don't need to be afraid of the darkness in the world. We can use the Bible to comfort us. Whenever I'm in a 'dark' situation I quote Bible verses to myself and feel God's presence light the way. Psalm 27:1 states: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?"

His light will lead us to redemption and out of condemnation.

Bri